Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

DASH

My beautiful husbandhad a knack for interrogation, which was surprising and a lesson to never lie to the man. Keir asked Thane if the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore had made it harder to get around the city. The crash had been on the national news for weeks.

Thane’s face was confused. “What accident?”

Keir gave him a skeptical eyeballing. “You said you lived in Baltimore. The Francis Scott Key Bridge was hit by a cargo ship and collapsed. How did you not hear about it?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t watch the news, you see. I’m more of a reader. I don’t even have a television.”

The accident happened in March. A cargo ship took down a huge span of a much-used bridge across a river at the mouth of the Port of Baltimore, stopping all river traffic and prohibiting ships from entering or exiting the port.

Multiple stories had been on the national news, cable news, in the paper, and trending on social media since the accident, so unless Thane had lived in a cabin in the woods with no electricity, how had he missed it?

“You must live on the same side of the river as where you work, or it would’ve been a real headache, right?” I was more than a little tired of beating around the bush.

Keir pulled his phone from his pocket and began pecking away at the screen, bringing a quick reaction from Thane, who touched his hand and lowered the phone.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you. I’m older than I look. It’s a blessing to my family that we age so gracefully. Anyway, I retired from my job at the library last week. I was so upset, that I just packed some toiletries in my messenger bag and got on the first flight I found at the airport.”

He waved his hand down his body. He wore the same cargo shorts, a different Escape T-shirt, and the same suede bucks. “I don’t usually dress like this, as you saw when I arrived.”

“Oh, Thane. What happened? Were you forced to retire?”

“Or were you fired and you’re calling it retirement?” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

“Dashiell!” Yes, Keir was scolding me, but I kept seeing Nyxon’s aura change from light gray to black as coal. I’d never seen anything like it, not that I had centuries of experience. I really needed to reach out to Josephine.

“I’m not judging. I’m just curious why such a powerful reaction. I mean, you look to be about fifty, and if you were a high-paid employee, I can imagine a library might want to cut costs.” I studied Nyxon for his reaction. His eyes flashed again but didn’t recover as quickly as they had the other times.

There was something weird going on with the guy, and I was determined to figure it out.

“Dashiell?What’s wrong? Jonas said you needed to talk to me.” It was Jo calling on my cell phone from an unknown number. I was glad I’d answered.

I’d reached out to Jonas to ask what was going on back home. I knew Scotty and Jay were hunting Nyx because she and her followers had disappeared from their part of Hell, but I didn’t know the whole story. He said Jo could tell me, so I asked if he’d have her call me.

“We’ve got an odd situation. There’s a guy here at the resort who has me stumped. Sometimes, his aura is black, and sometimes it’s normal—well, for a human. He appears as though he hasn’t aged since his mid-thirties, but he said he just retired from his job as a librarian. I can’t figure it out, and Keir seems smitten with the guy.”

“What do you mean, smitten?” Finally, Jo was concerned.

“As in friendly—not in a romantic way. The dude goes from hot to cold and always turns up in odd places where we happen to be. He plays this pathetic role of a man who doesn’t have much going on, and it gets to Keir. I know my husband would never cheat on me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not pissed about the guy’s attention.”

“Who is this guy? What do you know about him?”

I sighed. “Not much. His name is Thane Nyxon. He showed up out of nowhere and without luggage. He’s been buying clothes at the gift shop here at the resort, and he looks like a hot mess. He said he was a librarian in Baltimore, but then he told us he was forced to retire. It’s all a crazy jumbled clusterfuck, Jo.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound good. How’s his aura?”

“Like I said, it goes from white to pale gray to black. Like, in seconds. His eyes go all black like a demon, but then it’s gone.”

This shit was driving me nuts, and I couldn’t sense anything about the guy that told me whether he was good or evil. Based on how friendly Keir was with the asshole, I had a feeling he couldn’t either.

“How many more days will you guys be in Mexico?”

I stood up to my knees in the ocean with my cell phone. A bold choice to have a phone in the water, obviously, but Keir and Thane were sitting in our cabana talking about Thane’s inability to process his recent trauma. I was hesitant to believe he was upset about being forced into retirement. Shit didn’t jive, in my opinion.

“We’re here for five more days unless you guys need us to come back. How’s everything going in Heaven and Hell?”

“Nyx and her followers are still missing. Scotty and Jay are searching everywhere. Bless them. I’ll see if I can find out anything about your guy and get back to you. Don’t do anything rash until we know what we’re dealing with, Dash.”

I chuckled. “Yes, Mom. Speaking of... How are my parents?”

“They’re enjoying their time in the Celestial Realm. They’ve made many friends, Dash. They’re safe. They love you, and they’re proud of you. I’ll tell them hi from you when I’m there the next time.” Jo was kind to offer. My parents meant the world to me, and I still missed them. It was nice to have this connection to them.

“Thanks. How about my brother, Daniel?” The last time I thought I’d seen my brother was when Mephistopheles dropped by in the image of my brother just to fuck with David Dearly.

Those fucking demons were goddamn ruthless. Thankfully, Lucy didn’t remember anything about our wedding day and the bullshit that happened with her and Keir at the hands of the demon trickster the morning of our ceremony. We were lucky Lenny hadn’t been there to witness that mess. Beelz had taken Meph away, and we hadn’t heard from Meph since.

“He’s still in Limbo waiting for word from Lilith regarding his fate. I’ll talk to you soon, Dashiell.” Line dead.

I shoved my phone into the waterproof pouch around my neck that Keir bought me when we’d gone shopping for souvenirs. The same day Thane had caught up to us in Cancun. He’d become a millstone around my neck, and it had only been a couple of days.

A server walked over with a bucket of beer. “Your husband sent this for you.” The young man pointed to where Keir was reclining on the large lounger... alone.

I took the bucket, reached into the pouch around my neck, and pulled out some cash to hand to the kid. He grinned and walked away, and I hurried over to the cabana. I plopped my ass onto the lounger where Keir was reclined.

“Where’s your new buddy?” Yeah, it was snarky.

Keir smirked at me. “He went to buy a pair of flip-flops because I told him he looked ridiculous walking around in suede shoes on the beach. It’s almost like he has bipolar disorder, Dash. I can’t figure it out. He’s sweet and caring one minute, then nasty and threatening the next.”

I stared at Keir. “Do you think he might have bipolar disorder? Because his mood flips in a heartbeat.” I’d say that was an understatement, but I couldn’t explain why. My perception of things might be colored by how jealous I was that he was getting the attention I wanted from my husband.

Keir sat up and took a sip of his fruity daiquiri. “I didn’t think about that. Could he be so unhinged after being pushed out of the library that he’s stalking us? You don’t think he’s a danger to himself, do you? Dash, could he be a psychopath?”

I chuckled. “You’re asking me? Dearly, I wouldn’t know a psychopath from a Rottweiler. All I know is he’s looking for something, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

I was making a promise to my husband because I was the Key to Keir’s Gatekeeper. I was his protector, and I would give my life to keep him safe without hesitation.

“Maybe I should gofor a walk now. Would that teach you not to engage a psycho in conversation?”

Keir was strapped to the bed on his belly with a blindfold over his eyes. After we finally shed Nyxon by saying we needed to call Keir’s mother, we returned to our room, and I stripped him. Looking at him spread out on the white sheet had my cock jutting toward his ass like a divining rod. It was a shame I couldn’t spank him with it.

Instead of pain, I opted for torture—sexual torture. I reached for the lube and tossed it on the bed, kneeling beside his torso. “You won’t know where I am or what I’m planning to do. Do not come.”

Keir’s head turned toward the sound of my voice. “You wouldn’t go out and leave me like this, would you?”

I slapped his ass with my open palm, rubbing over the cheek and sliding my thumb over his hole. “Would that piss you off?”

“I-I... Yeah, I think it would. I mean, you said you’d take me for better or worse. Now, because I was talking to a possibly homicidal retired librarian, you’re going to walk out on me?” He humped the bed to get some friction. I knew he loved it when I made his ass sting. My kinky man.

Leaning forward, I dragged my hair over his ribs, chuckling when he wiggled a little and gave me a breathy moan. I smacked his other ass cheek and admired my handprint. My need to mark him was primal at that point. I had never considered myself a jealous man, but when I saw Nyxon making eyes at Keir and trying to monopolize his attention, it pissed me off.

“I’m never walking out on you, Dearly. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, even with the falling off the boat and quasi-dying in Italy. Now, I have you as my husband and a few cool tricks I’ve recently developed. You love only me, and you’ll never let me go either. Till death do us part.” I just hoped it wasn’t at the hands of Thane Nyxon.

I licked a stripe down his backbone, swirling my tongue at the top of his crease. Goosebumps prickled on his back, a real boost to my confidence.

I slapped both cheeks at the same time before I parted them and teased his entrance with the tip of my tongue. Keir gasped, which was a reward unto itself, and then I stood and walked to the nightstand, pulling out the pouch we’d bought while shopping.

It now held all the toys I’d had sent to the resort. While he’d gone into the bathroom to shower earlier, I’d taken out the silk ropes and the blindfold before getting in with him to rinse the sand and seawater away.

I’d told him to wait on his belly on the bed when he finished before me, and he’d done it without question. I’d carefully tied his hands and feet to the bedposts and put the blindfold over his eyes. My dick was like granite at seeing the black silk against his sunkissed skin.

I knelt between his legs and nuzzled his taint with my nose as I sucked his right ball into my mouth, licking it before I gently bit his sack.

“Fuck!”

I slapped his right cheek again before giving the left the same treatment. “Which do you prefer—being fucked or doing the fucking?” I slid my tongue over the spot behind his balls and circled his entrance with the tip of my tongue again.

“W-What?” His voice was a bit unsteady, which meant I was getting to him. That made me smile.

“If you don’t know, then I’ll make the decision for you.” I reached for the pink vibrating anal beads and slicked it up with lube before slowly pushing them inside him and placing the remote next to his head but not turning it on yet.

His wrists and ankles were secured by slip knots, so I quickly crawled up his back and released them then reached behind me to release his ankles. “Flip over, but don’t touch the blindfold.”

Once he complied, I re-tied them and began getting myself ready to ride him. “Mmmm. That feels fucking great.” I slid two fingers inside my hole, relishing the burn.

Keir’s head jerked from side to side as he tried to figure out what I was doing. I squeezed some lube into my palm and slid my hand up and down his shaft. “Love, what⁠—”

I didn’t answer, holding his hard cock up to slowly work it inside me. “I’m using you to fuck myself.” I then took the remote and turned it on low.

“Son of a... That feels... Oh, god yes. Ride me hard.”

Wish granted...